music service

There are a lot of streaming music services in the world, and Google’s acquisition of Songza came as no surprise. What is a bit befuddling to some is why Google would buy Songza instead of the others out there. Google’s pockets are deep, so cost wasn’t really an issue — they could have had any company willing to sell (and they all would for the right price). So why did Google grab Songza?

Google has purchased Songza, the music suggestion and streaming radio service. The suggestions, which come in the form of carefully curated content based on context like where you are, fit well with Google. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Indie artists as big as Adele and the Arctic Monkeys could be yanked from YouTube within a matter of days as the streaming video service demands they sign up with a new subscription music platform or find somewhere else to host their content. YouTube plans to begin limited testing of the streaming service, which is expected to support offline and ad-free playback, shortly, ahead of a broader roll-out later in 2014, but independent artists could disappear "in a matter of days." Continue Reading

Spotify has passed the 10m paying subscribers mark, with around a quarter of the streaming music provider's users worldwide coughing up cash each month for ad-free access to the catalog of tracks. The company charges $9.99 per month for those users who want to escape commercials as well as listen to Spotify music through their home media systems, like Sonos.

With Apple’s alleged purchase of Beats hanging in the air, a rogue third-party has interjected. David Hyman, founder of Mog, is suing Beats ahead of an Apple takeover. According to him, Beats owes him quite a bit of money, or stake in the company.

They may not have planned it this ways, but YouTube is the go-to channel for music and videos amongst the young audiences between 12 and 24. Taking into consideration its billion plus monthly users, that includes this segment, a paid on-demand music streaming service seemed the natural progression. Although Google had originally planned to launch the service late last year, the project is still a work-in-progress due to several reasons.

BitTorrent and cloud downloader app FrostWire has become the first open source torrent app to tie the distributed download system with Bitcoin, using the Canadian band 'Aint No Love' as the hook. The service provider has just debuted its in-client Bitcoin tipping feature, allowing fans to pay the band what they think its music is worth.

Amazon's rumored music streaming service could end up limiting how much each Prime subscriber could listen to each track, forcing them to cough up and buy the MP3 if they want further access, insiders claim. The streaming - believed to be Amazon's next addition to its Prime subscription service, which could increase in price from its current $79 per year to as much as $119, the online retailer has warned - would be curtailed after either a set number of plays or a period of time, it's suggested, in an attempt to appease content music-rights holders.

Beats Music has temporarily frozen sign-ups to its Spotify-rivaling streaming service, blaming high demand for the shutters slamming down on new users getting access. "Our priority is to give everyone a great experience" Beats Music said in an email to those who had pre-registered usernames, promising an extra week of trial access for anyone who signs up this week when the service re-opens.

The truth is in the code, and the code for the latest YouTube mobile app version is telling us the Google-owned streaming video subsidiary is nearing all-systems-go for a full-on music streaming service. It will offer free (ad-supported) and paid (ad-free) subscription models, automatic "radio" station creation, offline and background listening, and other features. Does that sound exactly like a Google-fired shot across the bow of Spotify, Pandora, iTunes Radio and Xbox Music Pass? It does to us.

Shazam has launched its first app for Windows Phone, with the new software supporting unlimited tagging as well as integration with Xbox Music and Nokia Music. The Windows Phone 8 app can identify songs playing around the phone and flag up artist, track name, and album; they can then jump over into Xbox Music and buy the track, or alternatively - if they're using a Lumia - Nokia Music to get the song.

Shazam has revamped its iOS app with the iPad getting the spoils, including an auto-tagging feature that constantly keeps a digital ear open to recognize any music playing nearby. The new app reworks the Shazam homescreen to put more emphasis on social music discovery, listing what tracks contacts are listening to, and can automatically pull in lyrics more quickly as well as - in the US, primarily - interact with TV shows.